I love duck hunting, and Teal season is a breath of fresh air for me. Finally here, pumped up like a kid on the night before Christmas. Hell, I can’t even sleep, laying there think of what the next morning will bring. Listen for the whistle of the wings of the first flock to buzz my decoy spreed. Now to me that’s what dreams are made of. I have 25 years of Southeast Louisiana roughest duck hunting under my belt. So listen up,

CUZ DIS CAJUN BOUT TO TELL U HOW WE GONE TO DO DIS LIKE DAT.

• DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Go out and scout, see where the ducks are, where they or flying from and also where they might be headed. One thing you want to keep in mind is Teal don’t like to be in the same place to long. Face it they are on there we to Mexico, so try to stay mobile. Ducks fly in this invisible highway, called flyways. Kinda like Cow trails, they get up and fly this patten everyday. So know where you flyways are.

• FEED

Find a pond that has natural feed. This will allow you the best place to hunt, simply because the ducks have probably already found this spot. But if you don’t have the natural feed, then feed them but make sure to follow all local game laws in your area or state. Some states may not allow feeding of wildlife. You can use rice, corn, milo, etc. Remember all the feed that is not natural has to be gone before you can hunt that hole.

• BLIND & BLIND LOCATION

This one is my favorite, simply because I have always been able to pick the perfect spot as to say. Thanks to my grandpa & father teaching me. Your blind location must be with the sun facing your back and the north wind coming from your back also. The reason for this is because ducks tend to land against the wind. So this keeps all the action in front of your face. Having the sun at your back is so that you can see them, you ever try to shoot a duck with the sun in your eyes! That makes for a very crappy morning. Now that you have your spot, there are many different types of blinds that you can build or even buy.

• PIROUGUE BLIND

A pirouette is a flat bottom canoe that us Cajuns get around the marsh in. Well the blind is quite simple. Place your boat or pirouette were you want it and put brush around it. Remember when brushing your blind only use natural brush. Look at what’s around you and use that. If your in a salt water marsh don’t use a willow tree. Ducks ain’t stupid, you might get luck once but your not going to be successful time and time again.

• STAND BLIND

This is a platform style blind with a bench or seats. Usually built with a couple of 2×4 boards and some ply wood. This is done so that you can be on a sturdy area while you hunt. Make the blind so that you can fit 2, 3, even 4 people, that is pretty much up to you. Keep in mind the bigger the blind the harder to make it blend in. Once you have your base or platform built and don’t forget to brush it up a bit.

• HOUSE BLIND

This is just what it sounds like a house all brushed up. These have seating for alot of hunters and have stoves for cooking and heaters. This type of blind I used for all day hunts.

• BOAT BLIND

This one is my favorite. Why, because it keeps you mobile, and you can move according to wind and also move as the sun changes throughout the day. Usually this is when you buy or make a pop up blind that is attached to you boat. Cabelas has them for about few hundred buck. Just put it on your boat brush it with grass matts you can buy at Cabelas, Academy Sports, or Wal-mart, then add a little of the native grass just to break it the outline. This well help your blind blend better and also hold together better.

• CALLING

Easy way to learn is to buy a CD. By many means a teal has a nasally quack (this is done by the female) and the male is a whistler. Usually the female is the big mouth and she is usually the one who is going to do all the yelling just like at home. Her quacks normally are going to be 4 quick notes starting off high and going down. Then the male is
peep, peep peep, peep peep, just quick little peeps on a teal whistle. See Haydels game calls for your teal whistle and female teal call.

• DECOYS AND DECOY PATTERNS

Face it you can’t get them in close without decoys. Buy some decoys, make sure that they are not to bright and don’t shine when the sun hits them. This will cause ducks to flare up and leave. Green head gear make the best but there are one of they also can be the more pricey of the decoys out there. There is kind of an art to decoy spreads. When piling decoys you may use the V Style set up or you can use the little piles set ups or even the scattered pile style. Each of these will work. You have to make the rite set up work for you. In all the style spreads I listed here don’t forget to leave your shooting lanes!!! Motion decoys also can play a big role in killing the hell out of sum ducks! Good idea of motion decoys come from MOJO Decoys. A great line of all kinds of duck decoys!

If you fallow these simple steps your should to have a great teal season. Thanks for reading and happy hunting! Andre’ Matherne Owner of Nonk Dre’s Custom Calls

For more information on Nonk Dre’s Custom Calls contact Andre by clicking here and follow him and his great duck calls on Facebook. Nonk Dre’s Custom Calls

Now I know most of you are thinking “umm that’s the taxidermist job”. and you are very right. However a lot of it starts with you. There are several things you can do to help ensure that your mount looks its best. Today I want to cover Birds.

Birds are the hardest animal to taxidermy in my opinion. They take great skill and patience to mount. The mounting is a LOT easier if the hunter has taken the proper pre steps before bringing it to us.The first thing to remember is the number one rule with any animal you want to have mounted ” FREEZE ” it as soon as possible. The longer you let that animal set out in the sun the smaller time window I have to work on it.

Bacteria begins to build up on the skin pretty much as soon as the blood stops flowing and bacteria is what makes a body rot.  If you cant freeze them due to the fact your not done hunting yet at least have a cooler full of ice just for the birds to put them in. If its a turkey please put it in a bag first we don’t want to get it wet.

The next thing you want to remember is if the bird is not a water fowl don’t let it soak in a cooler full of melted ice, bag it first to keep it dry. Turkeys floating in a cooler full of bloody water is not a good thing. Its very hard to get those feathers clean and fluffed back out.

Now once you are ready to freeze the bird the best thing to do is wrap a few paper towels around the body and head to soak up any blood that may seep out while freezing or thawing out. Once you have it wrapped slide a nylon stocking over the birds head first and down towards the tail, going with the feathers.

If the bird is a pheasant you will want to take an empty paper towel roll and slide it over the tail feathers to ensure they do not get broken.. once the bird has been wrapped and the stocking put on. Place it in a zip lock bag or garbage bag and freeze it.

Always remember  the more bags the better.

I also want you to know that sometimes the birds have dozens of holes in the skin from pellets or dogs getting a better grip on the bird. These holes are a big problem with birds. Its always a good idea to have a few birds for your taxidermist to choose from. This will insure the best looking mount..

The great thing to remember is I am a Taxidermist not a magician. If you shoot it in the head, pump it full of bullet holes, or let  the retrieving dog turn it into a sifter its gonna be a huge job to make it look good. So a quick over view.

Freeze or put on ice A.S.A.P

Keep non water fowl out of melted ice water

Wrap bird in a few paper towels

Slip into nylon stocking

Place into a few bags

Freeze

Have a few extra birds for your taxidermist to choose from.

If you do these things and your Taxidermist knows what he or she is doing, you will have a BEAUTIFUL bird mount.